Hi all

Trust everyone has a good christmas

I've had a strange experience, and surely I'm not the first... I've got a melted fusebox, no. 6 got too hot and melted the plastic... Under the ownership of the PO the fuse holder for the wipers suffered the same fate... Now, what can be done? It doesn't look like the fusebox comes away without all the wires attached... They're crimped in. Can the copper clasps be separated from the the plastic housing? Or do I have to go about getting the whole thing new and and cut off and re-crimp the old wires back in? Has anyone ever done this before?

Many thanks

 

I've never had to deal with that but it can't be that impossible. First get the parts you will need for the surgery from David at Everyday XJ unless you can find salvage cars locally, then get to work. It will be tedious work but satisfying. The reason it melted must have been that too high amperage fuses were used.

 

As Jose says, using a too-high rated fuse could be the culprit. If the circuit was overloaded it could overheat....and the fuse not blow.

In my experience, though, melted fuse boxes are typically the result of a loose or dirty connection/contact. Poor connection = high resistance = high heat = melted plastic.


I'm 99% sure the fuse clips and wires can be disengaged from the fusebox. I have some extra fuses boxes that I can take a look at and report back, but it'll be tomorrow

Cheers
DD

 

Many thanks Jose and Doug

The fuse was the correct 50 amp fuse, but, as you guessed Doug, bad contacts... I know it was a little rusted, plus the clip was already deformed from the heat... Haha lesson learned!

No pressure Doug, I will do it when finances allow, I'd love to hear your response though.

Thanks again.

 

Nathan:


The one under the wiper is a generic plastic in line. No too hard to source anywhere in the world. And, at least around here, not a budget buster! I might have a couple around here somewhere. Not Jaguar, but generic. Free for the postage. But, that might be considerable from here to you!


Were it me, I'd take the opportunity to swap it out for a blade type receptacle and fuse. Same value, of course....


Bodge suggestion: Isolate the wires for number six from the box
and solder in a big blade receptacle and fuse.


Soldering time.... I like to solder....


If you get a board from Doug or elsewhere, take some time to tighten and brighten the connections. Cold solder can do that.


Carl


Carl

 

Ummmm....I'd like to 'walk back' my previous remarks. I experimented with an old fuse box and the fuse clips are NOT easily disengaged. The locking tabs are hidden.

There are various choices/fixes available (such as a generic replacement fuse box) but at the end of the day it might be easier....considering overall effort/time/labor ....to just clip the wires and install a good used fuse box, splicing and soldering the wires.

Cheers
DD

 

Hi Nathan,

I've just had a similar experience with a loose connection of my hi amp aircon circuit.

Same problem of melted contacts.

My solution was to check the connection of all other fuses first.

Then the melted fuse line was re wired in back of the dash to bypass the fuse box, and have an inline fuse fitted to it out of sight.

Seems to have worked OK

Cheers,

Nigel

 

Thanks Carl, Doug and Nigel

the set up of the fuses for the aircon is most odd... The current goes through the fuse for the heated rear window first and then onto the aircon clutch fuse... and i remember now, I hit the tank changeover button (well i meant to) and I ended up hitting the heated rear window one... Running both at the same time with bad contacts wasn't a good idea... And it was the rear window fuse that got too hot, so i might have a quick fix for that, I don't really need the heated rear window for now... Maybe one day when I'm wealthy haha!

I thought that would be the case, Doug, I just had a look now... Might you be able to tell me how they are held in... I might melt them out and press them into a new box... Have you ever had luck removing any of the clasps at all?

Thanks for the advice Nigel, that's how my wiper fuse has been done, it also melted when with the PO. I might end up doing just that.

 

It seems that they are held in with a tiny retainer tab as often seen on wiring connectors. This pic gives a rough idea ....you can see the retainer tab

http://imgs.inkfrog.com/pix/steve483..._20120204c.JPG

Typically you can use a tiny tool to depress the tab but I was not able to do so.

Melting them out seems OK to me, or using a Dremel tool

Cheers
DD

 

Aha! I had a look earlier, thought those gaps in the plastic had a purpose, I've done it on fuel injector clips before, worth a shot.

Thanks Doug.